CHICOPEE - The Chicopee man who died Sunday of an apparent heart attack while attending a New England Patriots game with his 6-year-old son at Gillette Stadium has been identified as Jeffrey A. Chartier.

Chartier, according to an obit that will appear in Wednesday's edition of The Republican, was an employee of OK Baker Supply Co. He is survived by his wife, Kimberly Ann (Girard) Chartier and his children Tedy and Amber.

Chartier attended the season opener Sunday with his son, but he was fatally stricken with a heart attack about 45 minutes before the 1 p.m. kickoff. It was reported that he had been involved in a heated argument with a stadium employee shortly before he was stricken.

Foxboro Fire Chief Roger P. Hatfield said the department’s emergency personnel, assisted by Bengals trainers, brought the man down onto the field so they could begin CPR, Hatfield said.

The man, who was unresponsive at the scene, was taken by Fallon Ambulance to Norwood Hospital where he was pronounced dead, Hatfield said.

“It was just one of those tragedies that you try never to have but we just couldn’t bring him back,” Hatfield said.

The fire chief, citing medical privacy laws, declined to release the man’s name. His identity was ascertained through his obituary with The Republican.

His obituary describes Chartier as a long-time fan of the Patriots, Giants and Red Sox. He was a 1988 graduate of Granby High School.

His funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Chicopee. Calling hours are Thursday from 4-8 p.m. at Ryder Funeral Home, 33 Lamb St., South Hadley.

The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro reported that the man suffered an apparent heart attack after getting in a heated verbal altercation with a member of the stadium’s staff near the south end zone.

Dwayne Hunter, 27, a military police officer from New Brunswick, Canada, told the Sun Chronicle that the man’s son had been standing next to the field with a Patriot’s banner when officials invited him onto the field to run along the sidelines and get pictures.

While the boy was on the field and the father was against the rail near his seat taking pictures, a stadium security staff member approached the father and said that his son did not have credentials to be on the field, according to the article, which cited Hunter.

The man, who became upset and argued with the staffer, collapsed after he returned with his son to their seats, according to the article.

Stacey James, vice president of media relations for the Patriots, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Hatfield said that emergency personnel got to the man within two minutes and attempted to revive him. State police, meanwhile, closed down Route 1 while the ambulance took the man to Norwood Hospital.

Fire department personnel took the boy to the boy back to the town’s public safety building where they did their best to comfort him, Hatfield said.

“We told him his daddy wasn’t feeling too good and that he had to go to a hospital to see a doctor,” Hatfield said.

Members of the state police bomb squad even let him play with their remote control robot in an effort to get his mind off the horrific situation, Hatfield said.

The boy’s mother, who had been summoned from their Chicopee home, arrived at Norwood Hospital several hours later. Fire department personnel took the boy to the hospital where he was reunited with his mother and 8-year-old sister, Hatfield said.

“When we have a tragedy like this and its not successful, it’s heart-wrenching, especially when you have a child there,” Hatfield said.